A thread for writing literary fiction, non-fiction, and other genres, and discussion of literary craft. Rococo editionPrevious: n/aBe polite and cordial. Do not feed the trolls. Share your work, but retain some grace and limit yourself. Do not spam.Follow thread prompts and discuss these exercises to enrich our understanding of the craft. Thread prompt:Write a scene where a small, ordinary object (a ticket stub, dented spoon, chipped mug) reveals a secret about the narrator. Begin in medias res with a sensory detail. End with a line that reframes the object’s meaning.
Post your favorite works!
A creased sticker clung to the cum stained shirt. Red and white, the text read "Hello, my name is:". Below that, "OP" was scribbled in black sharpie. This tells us that the owner of the object is a gigantic faggot.
>>24851431>Red and white, the text read "Hello, my name is:". Below that, "OP" was scribbled in black sharpie.This punctuation is the sign of a writer who cares about the craft.
How many times have I renounced you? Not enough. Here you are before me. How many times must I push you away?Not enough. Here you are before me. How many times must I walk away?Not enough. Here you are before me.
>>24851438>implying
>>24851315I have a fear of missing out lately, no, not of the late night parties and concerts filled with strangers you might never meet again, revolving like bright wheels of carnival cheese to come and delight. I fear there’s something beyond my scope of vision, the profound is happening that can only be captured from spending my remaining evenings sitting in a plastic lawn chair on the edge of a lake or swamp observing all life. Great cycles of birth and death happening over a matter of hours or days, creeping vines withering and birds flying from nests. Inside is the dead space, the silent tunnel where air stagnates. Even now, the loons under ferns wait out a gentle rain without me truly knowing. Starting tonight, surrounded by the sun’s nightly whimper over water, I will let a single piece of light bounce off a rock and enter my eye, where it will remain for 20 years or more.
>>24851531idgi
>For me, though, it's all about...Do you really need that comma?Can you do this?>For me though, it's all about....
absolutely riveting feedback
>>24851823Flows better with the extra comma i-m-o
>>24851531a lot of people get this close to having a significant experience/takeaway only for it to end up as pessimism and or hatred. and they live like this, fully aware of the consequences, deeming horrible things as "necessary evils", justifying their vile inconsiderate extremist behaviour towards the entire world including themselves.i appreciate the ambiguity in this brother. theres no room for nuance in the world for most people, and that's a shame.
>>24851932>i appreciate the ambiguityPeople only appreciate ambiguity in poetry because it's either short or they expect to be left with a feeling, not an answer.
>>24852223>t. John Wayne Ambiguity is great
>>24851315>thread promptThe PlotterHer soft, red-painted lips pressed against mine. I'd gone in for a quick peck, something small and noncommital, my defenses still up. But when I brought my face close to hers, she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and kissed me fully. My anxious tension melted away. Our tongues probed each other like our words had done in the days leading up, masking our mutual interest with casual chatter, searching for compatibility. After mentally deliberating and finding the extra movement potentially acceptable, I put my hand on her cheek. Suddenly, a character on the television made a loud joke, drawing our attention and breaking our fusion. She giggled."I love this show," she said.My eyes couldn't stay on the screen. I looked at her face, at her bemused smile, at her sparkling eyes. But, while those eyes drifted from the screen to meet mine, disaster struck. I saw her gaze stop briefly on something behind me. Turning around would've been useless. I knew what she'd noticed. A large pinboard, currently empty, hung from my studio apartment's wall. She only stayed on it for a moment, but I could see her brow furrow with curiosity. I'd tried taking it down before her arrival, only to reveal a far more noticeable rectangle of paint left unfaded under the pinboard's shadow. Her eyes met mine, she smiled, and in the silence between us that followed, I left a wordless prayer that she'd forget her curiosity. God left it unanswered. When the episode's credits rolled, her interrogation began. "What's that for?" she asked. My heart sank when she pointed at the pinboard."Just for... sticking stuff up on," I whimpered. "Like what? There's nothing on it now.""I use it to keep my thoughts organized." "What kind of thoughts?" she followed up, relentless. When I hesitated, trying to think up a response, she added conspiratorially, "Are you a conspiracy theorist? Is that what you're keeping track of?""No, nothing that... deep." "Aw," she said. "I like conspiracy theories.""Me too, but that's not what the pinboard's for.""Then, what's it for? Tell me," she begged with a pout and puppy-dog eyes, speaking over the next episode's theme song.I sighed. The truth would have to come out eventually. Some overwhelming part of me knew it would ruin everything. If not immediately, then at some point later, when the exact nature of my endeavor's fruits became clear. She would discard me, disgusted. Of course, that didn't happen. The truth only strengthened our bond. She developed a keen interest in what I was doing, offering her help, which she gave with pleasure. She even managed to convince herself to join the tribe and went on to contribute her own voice to the world. "I'm a writer," I reluctantly admitted. "I write fiction. I use the pinboard to plot narratives."
>>24851823>>24851875You need both commas. It’s not even a discussion about readability or flow.
>>24852603>t. grammarly
>>24852603No I don't.
>>24851419This thread is for the discussion of writing and stuff we're writing ourselves. You can make a new thread if you want to talk about the things we've read.
>>24852603I hate commas littering my sentences. They are UUUUGLY
>>24852906Educate yourself.
>>24852223Great works of fiction are always ambiguous. That's what allows them to be the subjects of papers and books. You need to allow the reader to interpret a work.
>>24852909Education says that commas are a matter of convention (nothing having to do with grammar), which also means they can be dispensed with when unnecessary. Sometimes you need them to remove ambiguity, but there's no ambiguity in "For me though, ..."
>>24852250>Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.t. Sigmund Freud
>>24852914In the case of commas, the thing that tells you that you have to use them is actually called "punctuation."
>>24852930B-T-W, don't call it an "Oxford comma," call it a serial comma
>>24852930>To my mother, Mother Teresa, and the pope.>They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook.vs>They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a cook.
>>24852967Unless Mother Teresa were my mother, for the first one I'd write>To my mother, to Mother Teresa, and to the pope.Might be more wordy but it makes the serial extra clear.
>>24852967>The Oxford comma is the final comma that comes before the conjunction in a list of three or more items. Its name comes from the Oxford University Press (OUP), where for over a century it has been standard in the Oxford Style Manual.
Just had a poem published in a large famous'ish magazine. I have no respect for the publication but it doesn't increase my chances of getting a book deal.So woohoo!!!
>>24852977Link it if it's online. I'll give it a read and become your fan if it speaks to me.
>>24852933Source?
>>24853014The source is my anti-institutionalism
>>24853016So, you pulled it out of your ass. Never change, 4chan.
>>24852603Isn't it similar to this case?https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/and-after-all-thats.3272036/>Either is correct.>And, after all, that’s the whole point of being a mother. – After all is a parenthetical phrase.>And after all, that’s the whole point of being a mother. – And after all is an introductory phrase.In other words, it comes down to it being an introductory phrase if you say "For me though, ..." in which case you do not need the comma. Unless you're going to argue that isn't an introductory phrase.
>>24852977>doesn'ti guess that's a typo but yeah i hope other anons also understand that they have to write and submit poems as well as short stories if they ever want an agent or book deal
>>24852977>>24853053How do I do that too? Like what am I supposed to look up?
>>24853041>having an opinion = pulling things out your assChange, retard
>>24853148"Open submissions" plus your work's genre. That's how I found this. https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/p/calls-for-submissions.html?m=1They're mostly no-name online mags but we all gotta start somewhere
>>24851470i'll never stop using quotation marks but i think most writers use too many commas. you only really need them before a conjunction and even then they can usually be dispensed with. semicolons should of course be purged from the english syntax forever
>>24853175*Semicolons should, of course, be replaced by em dashes. ftfy
>>24851438what is the punctuation supposed to be
>>24853158>>24852933 didn't appear to be stated as an opinion.
